Sunday, January 21, 2018

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 21, 2018): Ways to Get from Here to There

NPR Sunday Puzzle (Jan 21, 2018): Ways to Get from Here to There:
Q: Take the name of a conveyance in seven letters. Drop the middle letter, and the remaining letters can be rearranged to name the place where such a conveyance is often used. What is it?
How close are you to the answer? Are you hot or cold?

Edit: You might see cable gondolas at a ski resort (cold) or gondola baskets below a balloon (hot). But most often you'll see them in the Venice Lagoon.
A: GONDOLA --> LAGOON

164 comments:

  1. Here's my standard reminder... don't post the answer or any hints that could lead directly to the answer (e.g. via a chain of thought, or an internet search) before the deadline of Thursday at 3pm ET. If you know the answer, click the link and submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

    You may provide indirect hints to the answer to show you know it, but make sure they don't give the answer away. You can openly discuss your hints and the answer after the Thursday deadline. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Too bad brook has only 5 letters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. One of the hints on the previous page helped me zero in on the conveyance; then I realized what wasn't the place; then I understood the humor in one of the other hints.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SuperZee's hint got me thinking about those things that dangle from balloons and ski lifts with the same name as canal boats, so when I scanned the list again GONDOLA popped out at me. Immediately, I discerned that the place was ANGOLA, and Googled to discover:

      Angola is a Southern African nation whose varied terrain encompasses tropical Atlantic beaches, a labyrinthine system of rivers and Sub-Saharan desert that extends across the border into Namibia.

      Confirmation! But something just didn't sit right. Then I saw my mistake and comprehended jan's hint. I didn't understand WW's comment until she explained it. I thought maybe it had something to do with Vitamin A.

      Maybe it's time for new glasses.

      Delete
    2. Paul, I started with "Vit: re us" but thought perhaps that was too revealing.

      I was convinced (evinced? :-)) your "humor" referred to vitreous humor.

      One of my grandmother's favorite jokes: What do you do when a vitamin salesman comes to the door?



      Open the door and vite 'im in!

      Delete
  4. Please join the Society To Repudiate Anagram Puzzles.

    These will be the death of me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. eco, may I convey, (not) ants, but support for STRAP.

      Delete
    2. Jack uses a strap to lash together traps made of parts of tarps to catch a lean sprat.

      LegoWhoBelievesThatUsingTheAnagram-FriendlyAcronym(STRAP)ForAnAntiAnagramSocietyIsSomewhatDubious!

      Delete
  5. I think I've stumbled upon it by accident. The place name I've heard a number of times on reruns of a classic TV show, but oddly enough they never had this conveyance, nor do I think they ever wanted to make one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. cranberry, I think I have the same answer. I am struggling on the word "often" in the clue.

      Delete
    2. saukriver, I think I have the answer. When I heard the answer to the puzzle for 12/10/17, I had solved it, but I did not think I was correct. I thought the wording was...misleading may be too strong. I just did not like it.

      Delete
  6. For those (like me) who listened to the broadcast while looking at the NPR webpage: EPONYM.
    [but I didn't get UPLAND]

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. In retrospect, maybe I should have avoided using the word UP. I honestly didn't intend it as a hint.
      I tried to put together some kind of hint about the government taking a few "days off", but couldn't get the two sides of my brain to iron out the details in a timely fashion.

      Delete
  7. Reminds me of a certain creature.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Charles, you con-du-it! Give us a much less revealing clue, please.

      Delete
    2. WW - after reading your comment above, I really wanted the answer to be dogsled! I got the intended answer after a two-hour car trip. Some might have expected me to get it more quickly.

      Delete
    3. Ah, yes, Lorenzo, the concern would have been lodged!

      And, yes, I would expect so. . .

      Delete
    4. (sigh) I thought it was DOGSLED-->D-LODGE, which we all know is the most remote structure at ski resorts and is accessible only by said conveyance.

      Delete
  8. Art clue: John Singer Sargent --Margaret G.

    ReplyDelete
  9. What's the biggest bridge in the world?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I would have said the dental work in the biggest mouth in the world, but his teeth aren't fake, according to the WH physician. And, like his weight, the information is surely reliable.

      But that's not your intent, you'll leave us in suspense. In Washington (state) they try to combine the suspense experience.

      Delete
    2. eco:

      Interesting that you, as I, thought of the dental connection.

      As to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It was rebuilt and now we have two of them due to increased traffic with so many Californians moving up here. Interesting enough we here in Washington State have learned from this experience and straw houses are not allowed due to the chance a big bad wolf may come and huff and puff and blow them down. Tell me, are straw houses allowed in California?

      Delete
    3. SDB: So this is #FAKE NEWS? Washington has >30 strawbale houses, one around 40 years old. California (which sends people north where life is cheap) has several hundred houses of straw. I've done several, as well as a couple of schools. NYEAH!

      Delete
    4. If we were to take a vote to see which state builds the best strawbale houses, would that be a straw vote?

      BTW, have you read Fire and Fury yet?

      Delete
    5. Both states would make a lot of hay, then rice up on their sacred oats. With rye humor wheat declare ourselves the winners, but just barley. I'd try to cellulosers on the reality, and control any ill sediments stemming from the results. And alfalfa no stalking at the polls by Chuck Grassley.

      I haven't read Fire and Fury, have you? I prefer to let others do my reading for me, and I'm waiting for it to be remaindered for 1¢. Or when there is a special deal with Media Madness by Fox's Howard Kurtz.

      And, in a nod to the PEOTS blog topic this week, I'm also waiting for William Steig's book sequel, "C D P".

      Delete
    6. Thanks for the PEOTS plug, eco. We are now discussing the pre-LANDSAT Corona Project (in the comments). >>> "Satellites with one (and later two) cameras loaded with 70mm film would orbit the planet, snapping pictures and periodically ejecting a pod of exposed film. As the film fell toward earth beneath a parachute, a passing plane would snatch it out of the sky."

      I am about 2/3 through Fire and Fury, the free Audible version. Lots of salient and spicy details woven together with many 50 cent words. Scheherazadian.

      Delete
    7. eco:

      Of course I have read Fire and Fury. We here in Seattle not only consider our library to be a cool house for pleasure, but also a hot house for learning. Saturday, a week ago, as I was perusing the recently returned DVD rack, a librarian came up to me with two brand new copies she had just received moments before, and handed me one, knowing I would enjoy it. I returned it Friday. It is not being adequately portrayed in the media.

      I have no doubt, during your younger, informative years, you were able to successfully depend on your peers to provide you with reasonably accurate reports of Dick and Jane, which relieved you of having to struggle through those annoying tomes. However, in today's world it seems to me it is increasingly more important that we form our own opinions on important issues.

      Delete
    8. The Berkeley library currently has 178 holds on the 42 copies of the book they've ordered, so there's no one to hand me a copy.

      I used Cliff's Notes for Dick and Jane. Though this version has some intriguing alternates.

      Bonus Fun Anagram: Stormy Daniels can be rearranged to spell "lies most randy". Try your creative hands on this!

      Delete
    9. I kinda like MISLAYS RODENT.

      We have 410 copies. King County Library has 332.

      I put holds on this book at both our library systems. I would have had to wait a bit to obtain a copy except that Seattle just, last month I think, instituted a new trial program where they are distributing some new books that are popular to the branches with a removable sticker on the cover saying it is non-renewable and cannot be put on hold, and can only be checked out for two weeks, instead of the normal 3 weeks. So, these two copies had just been delivered from the main to the branch I was at and the librarian knew me and that I would most likely want to get my hands on it. Had she put it on the new arrival shelf, it would have gone instantly.

      I like the new Dick & Jane better than the earlier version. Did Dick grow up to become a media mogul?

      Delete
    10. NASTY OLD MISER
      TORE SLIMY NADS
      IS A NERD MOSTLY
      MY LAST I SNORED
      A-LIST SYNDROME
      LADY IS MONSTER
      STIR OLD MAN, YES?
      ONE'S DISMAL TRY
      LADY'S ON MISTER
      MISS TO LAY NERD
      A TRYIN' OLD MESS
      MESSY, INTO LARD
      LOST DREAMY SIN
      ANY SORT MISLED
      DIRTY LASS ON ME
      MANLY SORT DIES
      SLY MAN TRIED SO
      MADLY, ISN'T SORE
      SAD, MINOR STYLE
      Pity this doesn't involve British politics, or we could include A MINDLESS TORY.

      Delete
    11. Excellent. Especially Cranberry, you've outdone yourself. I can add:

      Messy trail, Don
      Messy trial, Don
      Don rates slimy
      Is Rodman style

      WS should have Stephanie Clifford as a "Name in the News" next December, but I'm guessing he won't.

      Delete
    12. LAYS MR. T, IS DONE!
      TRY? NO DEAL, MISS
      NOT LAD'S MISERY
      MISERLY DON SAT
      MY LOT IN A DRESS
      DIM, ANTSY LOSER
      DON IS MY, ER, LAST
      MY SADIST LONER
      LASS, DIRT, MONEY
      A LOT IN MY DRESS
      DON'S TRY IS LAME
      MS. "I TRY AND LOSE"
      SADLY, ISN'T MORE
      IT'S ONLY DREAMS
      DON, A SLY MISTER?
      SADLY, NO MERITS
      STRAY MODEL SIN
      DAMSEL IN STORY
      Stormy Daniels is a true anagrammer's dream! Trump sure knows how to pick 'em, don't he?

      Delete
    13. MY SORT'S IN LEAD
      I MADE SLY SNORT
      If it were a W instead of an M(by merely turning it upside down, of course), you could get SLOW, NASTY RIDE. (That one's for Legolambda. On Puzzleria!, you do occasionally have to rotate letters so they become others.)

      Delete
    14. MY ROD'S IN LEAST
      DARN SLIMY TOES
      RANDY TIME LOSS

      Delete
    15. MOAN LESS DIRTY
      DIRTY MAN LOSES

      Delete
    16. Gentlemen, you have gone far beyond expectations (which makes up for Stormy's and our disappointments). I had a sense that 5 of the 6 vowels + the RSTLN of Wheel of Fortune fame (+MDS) would work into something, but not this many.

      Too bad WS wouldn't want NPR funding to get further slashed, you've shown it would be a great creative challenge.

      Delete
    17. And mark your calendars for tonight's episode of Inside Edition, which anagrams to "Don denies it II"

      Delete
  10. Some of the messages above evince that I have got the answer, and some do not. I wonder if I have an alternative? Will learn on Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am wondering that, too! Guess we'll see on Thursday.

      Delete
  11. A standard Sunday morning insult:
    "And then do you-know-what to the result."

    It may just be sour grapes, but I really wonder about the claim of 300 correct responses to last week's challenge.

    I wish I was surprised by Will's celebrity hero.

    Now back to trying to find a 7 letter synonym for deed.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I love it when I can solve the puzzle without getting up and outta bed. This time I heard the question and thought about it a bit and fell back to sleep. When I awoke I quickly narrowed it down and had the answer.

    ReplyDelete
  13. This puzzle made me a little sad.

    ReplyDelete
  14. A wagonload of thought may not be required to convey a solution to this puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I didn’t have trouble with this at all.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm leery of some of the clues above but happy to report that I've solved the puzzle two weeks in a row. See ya next week.

    ReplyDelete
  17. That's too much of a give, I think. Why not Michael Jackson?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To me, the image of Madonna dancing in her underwear on a Gondola in a lagoon is too strong. First impressions are powerful, you know.

      So I thought more about Michael Jackson, who was friends with Brooke Shields, who we first met half naked in BLUE LAGOON. That seemed slier by half.

      Delete
  18. I had to be both skillful and wary to get this.

    ReplyDelete
  19. It is so interesting how the Republicans in Congress will unite to the death to stand up to the Democrats, but the Democrats will come together in order to cave in to the Republicans. Does anyone stand up for the citizens of this country?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SDB - I was hoping things would turn out different but Trump has control of all the levers & buttons to sway public opinion. All the Trump loyalists had to do, to sway public opinion, was to bring up "helping Americans first". Schumer just didn't have a good response. 
      Let's see what hapens in 17 days when all this comes up again.
      At least the CHIP program was funded for six years. 
      Where was Trump during all this controversy??? Rumor has it that his advisers deliberately kept him out of any meetings so they could minimize his impact, i.e. not screw it up for them.
      At least he can go to Davos Switzerland now & party with the elite of the elite for a few days.
      I'm not optimistic but let's see what happens in 17 days.

      Delete
    2. You know what will happen in 17 days. NOTHING!

      Trump and the Republicans want ALL of the non-white people out of this country now. They are not going to say this publicly, and why should they, when it works so much better for them when they say they want to help them but do nothing? When they achieve this they will get white, non-rich, people to do their scrubbing for them because there will be no jobs since Trump will "save" them by pushing corporations out of the country.

      Delete
    3. Like they say, "don't go by what he says, go by what he does".
      Seems like forever until the mid-terms.

      Delete
  20. SDB: I like the way you phrased your thoughts. I am so disgusted with what went on today with the Democrats. No one seems to care about this sham. Democrats obviously do not care about citizens. I may as well vote Republican.

    ReplyDelete
  21. 68Charger: Hi! Cannot solve puzzle. Waiting til Thursday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Darn, I'd like to give some clues but this one is tough to do without giving it away.

      Delete
    2. My clue was easy to come up with, but not obvious.

      Delete
    3. I still wonder if there are two possible answers.

      Delete
    4. I have come up with two.

      Delete
    5. Very good, all I have is the one! Everyone's clues seem to suggest there's another one out there.

      Delete
    6. It will be interesting to hear the answers on Thursday!

      Delete
  22. The answer to the place part has two different meanings. That stinks!

    ReplyDelete
  23. This is also not a clue.

    In fact, I guarantee that the conveyance I came up with to answer the puzzle does NOT appear anywhere in the attached video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0zb_baTzkk&t=47s

    But as long as Hugh is posting old people driving on road shoulders, I can't miss posting David Lynch's "The Straight Story" here.

    WARNING: the attached clip contains absolutely none of the creepy weirdness associated with Mr. Lynch. Sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I have two fairly credible answers, each with interesting bits of circularity.
    Circularity is to be expected when one is riding the two-legged anagram horse I mentioned a few weeks ago.
    I realized later that I was only thinking of horses with their legs on one side or the other, not front/back or on the corners, making for six possible configurations, each with its own required riding style.

    I also mentioned phredp based on a post from ten years ago. I think he has been gone, but that may be a figment of my memory. In any case, he is either back (Welcome!) or still here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you have the right answer you should readily see it. Or perhaps not.

      Delete
    2. Gee, thanks eco. Or perhaps not.

      Delete
    3. I'm just playing head games with ya!

      Delete
    4. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    5. Mendo Jim...still alive and well.

      Delete
  25. ──┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬─────┬──
    ══╪═════╪═════╪═════╪═════╪═════╪═════╪══
    ──┼─────┼─────┼───────────┼─────┼─────┼──
    ──┼─────┼─────┼───────────┼─────┴─────┼──
    ──┼─────┼─────┼───────────┼───────────┴──
    ──┴─────┼─────┼───────────┼──────────────
    ────────┴─────┼───────────┼──────────────
    ──────────────┼───────────┴──────────────
    ──────────────┴──────────────────────────

    ReplyDelete
  26. There is one amusement park somewhere in North America - Mexico, United States, or Canada - that shares this place name.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you conveyed by your destiny?

      Delete
    2. Only by my Euro-destiny...

      Delete
    3. GONDOLA, LAGOON

      "Vitamin? re: (o)us." was a play off jan's Venetian blind clue >>> eye >>> vitreous humour.

      "Latin" refers to the phrase "Veni, Vedi, Vici" and Venice.

      Delete
  27. GONDOLA minus D = LAGOON

    My Hint:

    “When I awoke I quickly narrowed it down and had the answer.” Gondolas are narrow hulled boats.

    ReplyDelete
  28. gondola --> lagoon

    "These will be the death of me!" referred to Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice". You can donate to STRAP, donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law, which is not at all.

    "If you have the right answer you should readily sea it. Oar perhaps not. I'm just playing scull games with ya!

    ReplyDelete
  29. GONDOLA -> LAGOON

    > You'd have to be blind not to see this.

    Venetian blinds don’t seem to have started in Venice. So why are they called that?

    > What's the biggest bridge in the world?

    The bridge of size?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When I close my Venetian blinds, I cannot see Venice. Or Venus. Or Madonna.

      Delete
  30. Scull your GONDOLA (- D) around the canals of the Venetian LAGOON. See it from space HERE.

    My hint: “WAGONLOAD” (- WA) anagrams to GONDOLA.

    ReplyDelete
  31. MUST READ BOOK
    The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt
    This is the next best thing to actually going to Venice.

    ReplyDelete
  32. I wrote, "Some of the messages above evince that I have got the answer, and some do not." "Evince" is an anagram of Venice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Evince? Isn't that My Cousin Vincent/Vinny's electronic presence?

      Delete
  33. I associate gondolas with canals, but Venice is also known as The Lagoon City.
    Many report that Venice has a slightly s***hole smell; alluded to above is the fact that part of wastewater treatment plants are called lagoons.

    I kind of like SCOOTER and ESCORT too, as in parades and corteges. Just to round it out the Ford Escort is another conveyance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was thinking SCOOTER and SECTOR, as in "In order to maximize pedestrian safety, the use of scooters will be limited to one sector of the city."

      Delete
  34. What about 'Handcar' --- 'A Ranch'

    ReplyDelete
  35. Gondola was on wheel of fortune this week.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Too bad brook has only 5 letters. But Brooke has 6. Brooke Shields starred in "Blue Lagoon".

      Delete
    2. I was surprised no one referred gently to Iceland or geothermal pools. . .

      Delete
    3. I've been to Iceland, and I don't remember seeing a single gondola there...

      Delete
    4. eco, I hope this won't cause a mid-Atlantic rift between us.

      Delete
    5. eco:
      What a shame you had to travel all the way to Iceland only to discover they don't have gondolas there.

      Delete
  36. Word Woman,Thank you for the link. I must have seen a rerun this week as the link shows this puzzle was given in August. Anyway,I was not smart enough to see the connection to this week's puzzle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. GONDOLA, LAGOON
      My clues had to do with "Gilligan's Island", which had a LAGOON to which they constantly referred, and the "Like A Virgin" video, where the Material Girl herself can be seen writhing around on a GONDOLA. Also, a particular Warner Bros. cartoon came to mind Sunday afternoon after, as I explained the puzzle to my mom, I had inadvertently pronounced the word gon-DO-la. Silly me!

      Delete
    2. Actually it is pronounced with both O's as in OWN. GONE-DALLA is just the way Americans mispronounce it. GOHN-DOHLA

      Delete
    3. The Italian version.

      The American, or CORRECT, version for both the boat and the freight car.

      Delete
    4. Those are not the pronunciations I got when listening to Italians pronouncing gondola at English to Italian sites via Google.

      Delete
    5. CORRECTION TO MY ABOVE POST

      I think I must have opened eco's American link, thinking I had opened the Italian link. I went back to listen again, and discovered my error. Sorry, his Italian link if correct.

      Delete
  37. My hint was that I didn’t have trouble with it AT ALL. Which sounds like ATOLL, which is a ring of islands surrounding a LAGOON.

    ReplyDelete
  38. GONDOLA....LAGOON

    I was intrigued to note the number of different conveyances called gondola. In addition to the flat bottomed boats of Venice and rail cars, there are: gondolas under dirigibles, blimps and hot air balloons; gondolas on aerial tramways and ski lifts, and gondolas on large Ferris Wheels like the London Eye.

    It made me wonder if there are other instances where the same name is used to used a conveyance used in land, water and in the air. The best I’ve come up with is ship. But that required me to include camels as, “ships of the desert.”

    Any others?

    ReplyDelete
  39. Oops...Should read, “...is used for a conveyance...”

    ReplyDelete
  40. My clues - leery for gondolier; two weeks in a "row" for rowing a gondola.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Acqua alta in Paris. The Venice of France? Gondolas on the Seine, anyone?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So perhaps that Wheel of Fortune guy (see link above) was actually prescient. . .

      Delete
    2. jan, those photos are Seine-sational.

      Delete
    3. And the NPR newscaster, speaking about the Paris floods, just said "Lerve Museum?" What is happening?!

      Delete
    4. WW:
      I think you may have heard it incorrectly. I heard the same broadcast and was surprised that Eleanore Beardsley actually pronounced it correctly with the Re at the end. To make certain I had heard it as I recall I went back and listened to it several times just now. You can locate it online. When I first visited Paris in 1965 I was very surprised to find it is not pronounced LOOV, but the Re is included, although without emphasis.

      https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500005/npr-news-now

      Delete
    5. No, it was a male voice and it was definitely "Lerve." The rebroadcast was correctly pronounced by Ms. Beardsley. The first time was unlerving.

      Delete
    6. Interesting. I listened to it at different times. They seem to be broadcasting it every other hour, leapfrog (pun unintended) fashion. Can't locate the male voice you heard, but would love to hear it just for laughs. Although she must have been disturbed, I suspect Mona Lisa didn't even bat an eye.

      Delete
    7. But did the Venus de Milo issue a call to arms?

      Delete
    8. No, I'm afraid she didn't even lift a finger to help.

      Delete
    9. I should point out, however, that Victory is waiting in the Wings.

      Delete
    10. Trump was in Paris for Bastille Day last year. Didn't he say something about, "Après moi le déluge"?

      Delete
    11. I think it will take more than a flow chart to understand Trump.

      Delete
    12. We're waiting for that video. C'mon Russians.

      Delete
    13. I am not particularly interested in viewing porn videos. But if Trump is featured, well, I can hardly resist.

      Delete
    14. I think a golden shower would match very well with a golden toilet.

      Delete
    15. "The artist “would like to offer it to the White House for a long-term loan,” wrote Spector, who has been critical of Trump."

      Couldn't Spector have just said: "Toilet to let" and leave it at that?

      Delete
  42. "President Trump said on Wednesday that he was willing and eager to be interviewed by Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential campaign, insisting that he has done nothing wrong. “I'm looking forward to it, actually,” Mr. Trump ..."

    I guess this means he has no intention of participating in this interview with Mueller, and will now come up with some cockamamie excuse for why he cannot do it, but hopefully leaving the fake impression that he wants to. This is classic Trump.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You know Donny has no intention of meeting with Mueller! I've never believed him from the start, especially on this subject!
      BTW, I still think it is very "interesting" that Melania didn't go to Davos with Donny J.

      Delete
    2. She probably didn't want to interfere with his mistress. You know; sharing bathrobes and stuff.

      Delete
    3. I hope she's talking with divorce lawyers.

      I found it interesting that there was no mention of their wedding anniversary last Monday, and more telling that her official tweet about 1 year in office had no mention or photo of the orange one. Given how he loves attention he must be fuming.

      Delete
  43. In the Midwest, a lagoon takes the place of a cesspool thus my reference to its stink.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That clip had a familiar ring to it.

      Delete
    2. The canals in Venice often stink of sewage, so your reference was apt in any case.

      Delete
    3. That is why I posted:
      "Only occasionally."

      Delete
  44. Well, now I understand why none of the clues made sense to me. I figured the answer was RAILWAY and AIRWAY. You often see trains at the airport.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guessed it would be JETPACK and JACKET (where you wear the transport device).

      Delete
  45. Next week's challenge: This challenge comes from listener Stuart Portnoy of Arlington, Va. Name a famous actor — first and last names. The last name is a well-known brand. Drop the last letter of the first name and you'll get the kind of product it's a brand of. Who is it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What kind of harriso do I drive? A Ford, of course. And that is a clue.

      Delete
    2. Hmm... I found a brand that might have been well-known around about the time my parents were born, but I don't think that's it.

      Delete
  46. The actor, in one of his more famous roles, and the product, are both cloaked in darkness.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Over 500 correct answers this week.

    ReplyDelete
  48. And when shopping for a rober for my underarms, I choose Mitchum.

    ReplyDelete
  49. I don't know why I'm up so early to try and answer this one. Force of habit, I guess.
    TV clue #1: Jimmy Fallon on SNL
    TV clue #2: The Simpsons

    ReplyDelete
  50. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  51. http://damonq.com/CBG-49-50.html
    http://damonq.com/CBG-51-52.html

    ReplyDelete
  52. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA, died yesterday. He'll be buried as soon as they find the little hex wrench to assemble his Torbjörn casket.

    ReplyDelete
  53. Is "Pitt" a well-known brand of ladies undergarment?

    ReplyDelete
  54. Blaine, I thought you were hinting at VenICE, and sea-level rise caused by global warming.

    ReplyDelete

For NPR puzzle posts, don't post the answer or any hints that could lead to the answer before the deadline (usually Thursday at 3pm ET). If you know the answer, submit it to NPR, but don't give it away here.

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